tag-strategy

name	tag-strategy
description	Help the user design and maintain a useful OmniFocus tag taxonomy. Use when the user asks about tags, contexts, organizing by tag, or wants to clean up or rationalize existing tags.

Tags in OmniFocus are most useful when each tag means one specific thing. Common axes — pick the ones that match how the user actually decides what to work on:

• Context / location — @home, @office, @errands, @phone, @computer.
• Energy — Deep Work, Low Energy, Quick Wins.
• Tool — iPad, Terminal, Editor, Browser.
• Person — Waiting: Sara, 1:1 with Boss, @Family.
• Time of day — Morning, Evening. Use sparingly; defer dates often work better.
• Status — Waiting, Someday.

Mutually exclusive tag groups (4.7+)

OmniFocus 4.7+ supports childrenAreMutuallyExclusive on parent tags — only one child can apply at a time. Good for axes where overlapping values don't make sense:

• Energy levels (Deep Work vs Low Energy).
• Time of day (Morning vs Evening).
• Effort estimate buckets (<5min, 15min, 1hr+).

When creating or updating a parent tag, set childrenAreMutuallyExclusive: true via omnifocus_create_tag or omnifocus_update_tag.

Workflow when the user wants to clean up tags:

1. omnifocus_list_tags to see what exists.
2. Look for redundancy (Phone vs Calls), one-off tags, and misuse (tag-as-project).
3. Use omnifocus_list_untagged to find available tasks that lack tags — these often need context to be findable.
4. To merge or rename, omnifocus_update_tag for renames; for merges, retag affected tasks via omnifocus_update_tasks_batch then omnifocus_delete_tag.

Avoid:

• More than ~20 active tags. Tag fatigue makes the system worse, not better.
• Tags that duplicate folder/project structure ("Project: Foo").
• Adding childrenAreMutuallyExclusive retroactively to a populated parent without warning the user — existing tasks may lose tags silently.